Working for a multi-national company can be a good thing, especially in the middle of winter when you have to travel across the equator to sunny Brazil! My co-worker Babu and I went to S�o Paulo, Brazil in January to help out with a project there. It was warm, humid, and sunny with surroundings of tropical plants and beaches. Meanwhile back in Milwaukee, it was one of the coldest parts of the winter causing a 100 degree Celsius different between the two locations! I'm glad I was in the warmer one... IMG_4906 Leaving Pewaukee it's a pretty standard winter landscape... IMG_4907 Poor plants... IMG_4908 One 10-hour flight later (and only 4 hours ahead of CST time) S�o Paulo is lush and green IMG_4909 IMG_4910 There are plants growing everywhere not covered by concrete (and trees grow out of their concrete bounds along the sidewalks quite often, not onto the street but sidewalks themselves can have big bumps in some places especially along less busy roads) IMG_4911 View from the hotel IMG_4913 The outlets were even in the right shape and 220 volts IMG_4914 A nice hotel room... IMG_4919 This is the first time I've seen both the Gideon Bible and Bhuddist teachings in a hotel room (odd because they only make up 1% of the population there) IMG_4923 The number of helicopters used in Sao Paulo is second only to New York City due to the terrible traffic in the city IMG_4924 A nice plant on the roof of the hotel - it had an observation deck with whirlpool, regular pool, and exercise area IMG_4925 Sprawling Sao Paulo IMG_4926 IMG_4927 IMG_4937 A pretty flower at breakfast in the hotel IMG_4938b< Taken in the late afternoon just after a rainstorm. S�o Paulo is the largest city in Brazil and 4th largest in the world with 18.3 million people in the urban area (~400k less than New York City's urban area population) IMG_4939 IMG_4941 I believe much of the infrastructure is based upon microwave and other transmission methods due to the large distances and lack of buried cables involved. Also, each business appears to be responsible for the state of their sidewalk in front of the building and the state of these ranges from well maintained black and white patterns to hastily slapped down concrete with no smoothing and lots of cracks. IMG_4942 Nice architecture IMG_4948 IMG_4952 The dominant religion is Roman Catholic at 68% of the population IMG_4953 Another pretty plant on the hotel roof IMG_4955 Traffic in S�o Paulo is fairly miserable, but was lighter when we visited since schools were on vacation. Also, there are restrictions based upon license plate number since those with specific plate numbers can't drive on certain days. IMG_4957 Petrobras is the state-owned oil company and in the top 50 largest companies in the world. S�o Paulo is the 19th richest city in the world and in 2020 it is expected to be the 13th richest. Per capita income is 24k BRL (Brazillian Reals) per year - about $13k USD. IMG_4958 This building is called the "Robocop" building IMG_4959 The S�o Paulo metro has nice looking stations, this one is along the big river/drainage canal that runs through the city IMG_4960 A fancy new bridge IMG_4961 IMG_4962 IMG_4963 A fancy old bridge Return to Features